New Cheboygan County sheriff's department transport van to have multiple uses

A new transport van authorized for purchase by the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners will have multiple uses, including transporting inmates from Cheboygan County to state prisons when they've been sentenced.

Cheboygan County Sheriff Dale Clarmont spoke with the county board earlier in the year regarding the potential purchase of the vehicle. However, there were no vendors at that time who could provide the van to the department.

"Now we have a vendor that we found that can do what we need and can somewhat supply," said Clarmont. "It's a 12 month process from the day that it's approved."

In 2007, Clarmont approached the board to purchase a transport van. The reason for this van at that time was mainly to assist the medical examiner with transporting bodies for autopsies. This was due to the cost of the autopsies, which 15 years ago were around $1,370, per trip.

"We were averaging just under one autopsy trip per month," said Clarmont. "Those numbers certainly have changed with inflation, as you can imagine, from 2007, but unfortunately, the autopsy numbers have gone the other way."

When the sheriff's department checked into the purchase of the van recently, to replace the van purchased 14 years ago in 2008, there was one vendor throughout the state who could provide the 2022 Ford T-250 van needed. The company is called MobilityTRANS, from the Livonia area, which works to provide custom built transportation vans.

"However, they are working with Fernelius Ford here in Cheboygan to actually get the body itself of the vehicle, so that we could get that at the state bid price," said Clarmont.

The sheriff's department did some research into the downstate company. There are several other sheriff's departments around the state, including Oakland County and Wayne County, that have purchased vehicles from this company for similar uses. Cheboygan County Sheriff's Department officials said they heard very high reviews of the company from the other departments.

After the authorization of the purchase, it will take around 12 months for the sheriff's department to receive the new van, complete with the specialized equipment needed to transport bodies for autopsy.

Clarmont, when he purchased the current van in 2007, had projected the vehicle be used for 10 years.

"It has well paid for itself for two reasons," he said. "Number one, the transports themselves of the autopsies, versus going to a funeral home and having them doing the transport. And number two is the DOC transports — our prisoners that are sentenced to prison — for state jail time, we have to transport them."

Clarmont said the savings to the county has been huge, being able to transport the prisoners for the Department of Corrections, rather than having another agency do it. Typically there are 3-5 inmates who are transported at a time to state prisons.

The vehicle has multiple uses for the department. It can also be used to transport members of the sheriff's department work crew to different job sites around the county where the workers are performing community service. It can also be used, when needed, by the Cheboygan County Office of Emergency Management to transport supplies or other materials.

When transporting inmates and state prisoners, the van will be equipped with several rows of seats. A gurney can be placed between the rows of seats to transport a body for autopsy.

The cost of the van's chassis comes at a cost of $42,852. The equipment needed to convert the van for the uses needed in Cheboygan County come at a cost of $19,756. The sheriff's department also will be receiving a rebate on the vehicle of $4,300. The total net cost of the vehicle, once it's delivered, will be $58,578.

Clarmont spoke with Cheboygan County Administrator Jeff Lawson and Cheboygan County Finance Director Sue Buitenhuis regarding this purchase. Although the sheriff's department has to commit to purchasing the van this year, it will not be delivered until the next fiscal year and would come out of that year's budget. The approval for funding needed to be made this year, and Buitenhuis would make the adjustments to the 2023 budget.

The county commissioners voted unanimously to approve the purchase.

Contact Features Writer Kortny Hahn at khahn1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @khahnCDT.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan County sheriff's transport van to have multiple uses